autista (.234, 22, 69), C Russell Martin (.231, 20, 74),

A look at the best-of-five American League Division Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers:---Schedule: (All times EDT) Game 1, Thursday, at Texas (4:38 p. Ivan Rodriguez Jersey .m.); Game 2, Friday, at Texas (1:08 p.m.); Game 3, Sunday, at Toronto (7:38 p.m.); x-Game 4, Monday, Oct. 10, at Toronto (TBA); x-Game 5, Wednesday, Oct. 12, at Texas (TBA). (All games on TBS).x-if necessary.---Season Series: Blue Jays won 4-3.---Projected Lineups:Blue Jays: 2B Devon Travis (.300, 11 HRs, 50 RBI), 3B Josh Donaldson (.284, 37, 99), 1B Edwin Encarnacion (.263, 42, 127), DH Jose Bautista (.234, 22, 69), C Russell Martin (.231, 20, 74), SS Troy Tulowitzki (.254, 24, 79), RF Michael Saunders (.253, 24, 57), CF Kevin Pillar (.266, 7, 53), LF Ezequiel Carrera (.248, 6, 23) or Melvin Upton Jr. (.238, 20, 61 with San Diego and Toronto).Rangers: LF Carlos Gomez (.284, 8, 24 in 33 games with Rangers; .210, 5, 29 in 85 games with Astros), CF Ian Desmond (.285, 22, 86, 107 runs, 160 Ks), DH Carlos Beltran (280, 7, 29 in 52 games with Rangers; .304, 22, 64 in 99 games with Yankees), 3B Adrian Beltre (.300, 32, 104, 31 2Bs), 2B Rougned Odor (.271, 33, 88), C Jonathan Lucroy (.276, 11, 31 in 47 games with Rangers; .299, 13, 50 in 95 games with Brewers), RF Shin-Soo Choo (.242, 7, 17 in 48 games, 4 DL stints), 1B Mitch Moreland (.233, 22, 60), SS Elvis Andrus (.302, 8, 69, 7 3Bs, 24 SBs).---Starting Pitchers:Blue Jays: LH J.A. Happ (20-4, 3.18 ERA), RH Aaron Sanchez (15-2, AL-leading 3.00 ERA), RH Marco Estrada (9-9, 3.48), RH Marcus Stroman (9-10, 4.37, career-high 204 IP).Rangers: LH Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.32, 200 2/3 IP, 200 Ks), RH Yu Darvish (7-5, 3.41), RH Colby Lewis (6-5, 3.71), LHP Martin Perez (10-11, 4.39, 198 2/3 IP).---Relievers:Blue Jays: RH Roberto Osuna (1-6, 2.68, 36/39 saves), RH Jason Grilli (7-6, 1.29, 81Ks in 59 innings with Atlanta and Toronto), LH Brett Cecil (1-7, 3.96), RH Joe Biagini (4-3, 3.06 in 60 games as a rookie), LH Francisco Liriano (8-13, 4.69 with Pittsburgh and Toronto; 2-2, 2.92 in 10 games, 8 starts, for Blue Jays).Rangers: RH Sam Dyson (3-2, 2.43, 38/43 saves), RH Tony Barnette (7-3, 2.09), RH Matt Bush (7-2, 2.48, 61 Ks in 61 2/3 IP), LH Alex Claudio (4-1, 2.79), LH Jake Diekman (4-2, 3.40, 4 saves), RH Jeremy Jeffress (1-0, 2.70 in 12 games with Rangers; 2-2, 2.22, 27/28 saves in 47 games with Brewers), RH Keone Kela (5-1, 6.09).---Matchups:A rematch of the 2015 ALDS that Toronto won in five games, including the wild clincher when Bautista had the go-ahead homer and emphatic bat flip as part of a disastrous seventh inning for the Rangers. They made errors on three consecutive plays, including two by Andrus. ... Toronto has a 208-203 lead all-time in the regular-season series. ... The ALDS opener will be their first meeting since May 15 in Texas, when Odor punched Bautista after the Blue Jays slugger made a hard takeout slide at second base in the eighth inning, after he had reached base when hit by a pitch. MLB disciplined 14 players and staff over the melee. The only players suspended were Odor (seven games), Bautista (one game) and Andrus (one game). ... Texas (60-31) and Toronto (58-31) were good during the regular season against the best teams, with the top two records in the majors against clubs that finished .500 or better. ... Texas three wins over Toronto this season were all one-run games. Each was won by a reliever, including Bushs first career victory May 15. ... In the ALDS last season, Texas took a 2-0 series lead by winning the first two games in Toronto, including a 14-inning Game 2. The Blue Jays posted a pair of four-run victories in Texas to force the deciding game at raucous Rogers Centre. ... The Rangers won a franchise-record 53 home games this season, which could come in handy because they have home-field advantage through the postseason. The AL won the All-Star Game for home field in the World Series.---Big Picture:Rangers: The AL West champions had a six-game lead in the division when general manager Jon Daniels pulled off two significant deals in the hours before the non-waiver trade deadline Aug. 1. Lucroy and Jeffress were acquired from Milwaukee, and the Rangers got Beltran (52 postseason games for four teams) from the Yankees. And when the Astros released a struggling Gomez on Aug. 18, the Rangers signed the two-time All-Star two days later and made him their starting left fielder after three games in the minors. Gomez became their primary leadoff hitter the last three weeks of the regular season. ... After not clinching the 2015 division title until the final day of the regular season, Texas had a champagne celebration after winning Game No. 154 this year in Oakland. ... Piloted by manager Jeff Banister, the Rangers (95-67) led the American League in wins and winning percentage (.586) for the first time in franchise history. ... Beltre had his third career .300/30/100 season. He joined Miguel Cabrera (six) and David Ortiz (five) as the only active players with more than one. ... Choo returned for the final weekend of the regular season after missing 39 games with a broken left forearm. ... This is the eighth time the Rangers have made the playoffs. In the previous seven, the only times they won postseason series were in 2010 and 2011 on the way to their lone World Series appearances.Blue Jays: After snapping a 22-year postseason drought in 2015, Toronto reached the playoffs for the second straight season under manager John Gibbons. The last time the Blue Jays did that was a three-year run from 1991-93 that ended with back-to-back World Series titles. ... This time, the Blue Jays (89-73) captured the top AL wild card by winning their regular-season finale in Boston. Then they beat division-rival Baltimore at home in the wild-card game on Encarnacions three-run homer in the 11th inning. ... The Blue Jays went 13-16 in September and October, their first losing month since April (11-14). ... Toronto averaged an AL-worst 3.69 runs per game in September and October, a full run off their season average of 4.70. ... Blue Jays starters were strong down the stretch, allowing no more than one earned run in 12 of the final 17 games. The bullpen struggled, however, blowing leads five times in a seven-game stretch that ended Oct. 1. ... The Blue Jays went 46-35 at home, the fourth-best mark in the division. ... Toronto has several pending free agents, including Bautista, Encarnacion, Saunders, Cecil and RHP R.A. Dickey.---Watch For:- Banged-up Bullpen. Osuna exited Torontos wild-card victory over the Orioles with a sore shoulder. Tests did not reveal any damage, and Osuna said the soreness might be due to fatigue after he pitched 16 regular-season innings in September and October. If he is not available against Texas, Grilli would likely handle the ninth inning. The Blue Jays already are without setup man Joaquin Benoit, who tore his left calf running in from the bullpen during a bench-clearing scrap with the Yankees on Sept. 26.- Pair of Aces. For the first time, the Rangers have both Hamels and Darvish in their playoff rotation. Darvish, the three-time All-Star from Japan whose only MLB postseason appearance was a loss in the 2012 AL wild-card game against Baltimore, missed all of 2015 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Hamels was acquired in a July 2015 trade and has won division-clinching games in both of his seasons with Texas. Hamels has a 3.03 ERA in 15 career postseason games, including two last October for the Rangers. The All-Star lefty was the MVP of the 2008 World Series and NLCS for the Phillies.- Unruly Fans. The noisy crowds in Canada are gaining a reputation for bad behavior. Toronto Police were looking for the fan who threw a beer can at Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim in the wild-card game. During Game 5 of last years ALDS, Blue Jays fans littered the field with debris after a disputed call that let Odor score from third after Martins throw back to the mound deflected off Choos bat.- Close Calls. Texas was 36-11 in one-run games, setting an MLB record with a .766 winning percentage. The Rangers also led the majors with 49 comeback wins. They won eight times when trailing after eight innings, plus had an MLB-best 21 wins in their last at-bat.- RISP-Y Business. Toronto hit .249 with runners in scoring position, the worst mark among AL playoff teams. Over the final eight regular-season games, the Blue Jays were 13 for 66 (.197) with one double in those situations. Roenis Elias Nationals Jersey . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end. Anibal Sanchez Nationals Jersey . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. https://www.cheapnationals.com/637r-spen...-nationals.html . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic medal in swimming Thursday night, tying for gold in the 100-meter freestyle with Penny Oleksiak of Canada.Manuel and Oleksiak both touched the wall in 52.70 seconds, breaking the Olympic record by one-hundredth of a second. Swedens Sarah Sjostrom took the bronze in 52.99.Manuel leaned her head into her hands and cried when she recognized her historic achievement in a sport that still has few African-Americans.Im just so blessed to have a gold medal, Manuel, 20, told NBC after the race. This medal is not just for me. Its for a whole bunch of people who came before me and have been an inspiration to me. ... Its for all the people after me who believe they cant do it, and I just want to be an inspiration to others that you can do it.Anthony Ervin is the only African-American male to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming. He tied for first in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2000 Olympics and is on the team again in Rio.Manuel, meanwhile, also became the first American to win gold in the womens 100 freestyle since 1984, when Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer shared first place.Manuel had to rally to get there.She was third at the halfway mark but surged past Australian Cate Campbell, who was on pace to take her world record even lower when she made the turn out front, with little sister Bronte right behind. But the Australian siblings, who teamed up to lead their country to gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay, couldnt hang on.Bronte faded to fourth, and Cate dropped all the way to sixth at the finish.Instead, it was Manuel -- her fingernails painted red, white and blue -- who touched at the same time as 16-year-old Oleksiak, the youngest swimmer in the field.Manuel and Oleksiak shared the top spot on the medal podium, with the U.S. anthem played first, followed by the Canadian anthem. Tears rolled down each of Manuels cheeks as she sang along.Its been a long journey, and Im super excited with where it has brought me, she said.Manuels victory took on added significance in a sport that still has few people of color, especiaally in light of the racial divide in the United States. Raudy Read Nationals Jersey. She mentioned some of the issues with police brutality.I think that this win helps bring hope and change to some of the issues that are going on in the world, but I mean, I went out there and swam as fast as I could, and my color just comes with the territory, Manuel said.Until now, Cullen Jones had been the face of swimming for minorities in America, having won two golds and two silvers at the previous two Olympics. But Jones failed to make the U.S. team this year in what could have been his final attempt.Manuels teammate Lia Neal earned silver on the 4x100 free relay in Rio and bronze on the same relay four years ago in London. Maritza Correia won silver on the same relay at the 2004 Athens Games.Manuel singled out Jones, Neal and Correia for blazing a path.Neal pumped up Manuel before the night-time finals by singing and dancing together.That helped keep the nerves off me, Manuel said. After the race, I gave her a big hug and I cried and I told her, Thank you for everything youve done for me. Shes a huge part of my successes.Manuel, who attends Stanford and has a brother who played basketball at SMU, looks forward to a time when there is greater diversity in the pool.I would like there to be a day where there are more of us and its not Simone, the black swimmer, she said, because the title black swimmer makes it seem like Im not supposed to be able to win a gold medal or Im not supposed to be able to break records, and thats not true because I work just as hard as anybody else. I want to win just like everybody else.And Manuel hopes she can just be a swimmer and a champion without her race being a factor.Thats something I definitely struggled with a lot, she said. Just coming into this race, I kind of tried to take the weight of the black community off my shoulders, which is something I carry with me just being in this position. I do hope that kind of goes away.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. ' ' '